Tiny Thinkers Tudor Drive

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children eagerly wait at the door, looking through the glass panel, and excitedly respond when they see their familiar adults. They separate easily from their carers and enter the nursery. The staff team greets them, smiling and reconnecting, ready to start the day together.

Supporting children's emotional well-being is a strength of the nursery. Staff skilfully recognise children's cues and respond with calmness and empathy. The children are encouraged to care for themselves and others and delight in looking after the nursery pets. The impact of this approach is clear. Children are learning how to acknowledge and manage their own feelings and understand their impact on others. They show high levels of confidence within the setting and are chatty, competent and engaged learners.

Leaders and staff implement a curriculum that is based on children's individual learning needs and interests. They know where each child is in their learning and plan a range of activities that help children to build on what they already know and can do. Staff make learning fun, and children thoroughly enjoy participating in the activities on offer. For example, older children explore different textures and smells, such as oats, cinnamon and honey as they make 'Gruffalo crumble'. Younger children take part in singing sessions and enjoy the repetition of the familiar well-loved songs. Music is an integral part of the curriculum and can be heard all around the building.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Parents report high levels of satisfaction. They appreciate the passion and dedication of the friendly staff team and talk highly of a successful key-person system. They share that these arrangements help to make their children feel safe and secure. They express that they have seen their children progress well, particularly in their confidence. Additionally, parents appreciate that the online platform allows them to be fully involved in their children's learning.
• Staff share thoughts and feelings with the children on a regular basis. They introduce children to things of cultural significance to them and others, whether this is sharing their home language through singing, providing a diverse menu with family favourites or through general conversation. Children delight in recalling this information, such as their favourite fruit and vegetables. This promotes children's understanding of diversity, teaches children about the world around them and broadens their experience of modern Britain. Children delight in sharing their own individual experiences.
• Staff benefit from regular supervision sessions and training to support their ongoing professional development. Training opportunities are plentiful, as is support from the management team. Staff benefit from regular 'in the moment' role modelling and knowledge-sharing as well as online and face-to-face training. Staff talk about the impact of training, such as the role of the key person and how that helped to develop this role further. Staff speak highly of leaders. They feel well supported in their role.
• Children readily access an exciting range of opportunities and experiences that support all areas of learning. Staff adapt these to the age and stage of individual children. This allows children to develop a good range of skills to support their future learning and make good progress. Staff encourage children to think critically, allowing them to be curious about the world around them. However, at times, staff do not always give children enough time to respond to questions or to formulate their own ideas, to further extend their skills.
• Physical activity is highly valued and well planned. Children build their core strength through indoor and outdoor play and small-group sessions. Younger children benefit from a well-resourced space that provides plentiful opportunities to pull to standing and cruise around the furniture. They stretch and climb over and under apparatus in the sensory room. Children develop their small muscles as they use tweezers, squeeze and roll play dough and use various-sized brushes to paint.
• Children's behaviour is supported well, and staff are positive role models. Even the youngest children can sit and wait for their turn. Older children learn about emotions and can express how they feel. Older children participate in small-group activities and learn the rules of developing friendships and turn-taking, alongside the benefits of healthy eating as they participate in a cooking activity. However, at times, staff do not share information effectively with each other to support a smooth transition for children from play to mealtimes.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to improve strategies used to further support and extend children's learning
• strengthen communication between staff, to support a smooth transition for children, particularly as they move from play to mealtimes.